They also hired a boatman. After the old man boarded, he immediately had someone row the boat. The boat circled the island but didn't head towards the four Southeast Asian countries. Instead, it continued westward, towards the northern border, near the delta.
The delta was an island ceded by the Yue Kingdom to Aba. Further upstream lies the Luerqu in the northern region.
The Luerqu canal allows direct access south to the ocean.
Xie Ying's face turned pale. Was she really going to go to a foreign country with him? What about her Qi Qi?
Xie Ying felt a sense of despair as she was tied to the boat. But thinking of Qi Qi, she rallied. Her gaze shifted to Si Hong. Si Hong was still there, smoking opium.
The new Tianjing Jianzhang Palace.
Si Xitong calculated the time Xie Lanzhi would leave, and then she put down her pen.
Seeing that she was distracted, Zhang Changle said, "Master, we can now confirm that the person we are looking for is on Twin Island."
"What did the Anluo people say about the money you deposited?" On Si Xitong's imperial desk lay a letter of state from the Anluo envoy. It was all about trade.
She knew it would be unwise to open the coastline hastily. Emperors throughout history, including her ancestors, had held a conservative attitude towards the coast.
Lan Zhi once said that her country had been closed off from the world for two hundred years, causing the dynasty to fall behind the times and be divided by foreign powers. Her homeland suffered greatly from war, and the path to reform was fraught with difficulty. It was only through the sacrifice of countless martyrs who stood in the way of gunfire that she won the victory and achieved the country she has today.
Lan Zhi never said it herself, but did she say whether her world was also at a historical crossroads? She didn't say.
Si Xitong had guessed it. Perhaps the time had come.
Si Xitong said, "Chang Le, get ready. It's time for us to close the net."
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 20:28:24 on February 3, 2022 and 18:13:28 on February 4, 2022!
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Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 187 Who is the Substitute?
Zhang Changle hadn't expected the enemy to be so cunning, going to such great lengths to lure the marshal out. Clearly, the Huns were trying to use a decoy to trap the marshal.
“Your Highness, the enemy may already know that Xie Ying is a fake body double,” Zhang Changle said. “Since we can prepare fake body doubles, the enemy may have thought of that as well.”
Si Xitong said, "Anshan is not content. He does not want to die in place of Aqina. This can be seen from the escaped Huns."
Zhang Changle said, "In that case, Anshan on Twin Islands is just a decoy."
“No, he should be Anshan,” Si Xitong said, “but definitely not Aqina’s double.”
So where is Achina's real stand-in?
In the capital city of Weidu, Si Lei's grief over the loss of his son lingered. He began smoking and drinking, as if this would allow him to escape the pain of his son's death.
The steward couldn't do anything for his father, so he could only perform his duties while searching for his father's pipe.
On this day, the tobacco shop owner personally delivered a pair of jade-mouthed pipes.
The steward happened to run into him and asked about it. The shopkeeper then handed him the item, saying, "This is a cigarette holder that the prince ordered."
After finishing his business, the steward was about to go see his father when he sent the shopkeeper to personally take the cigarette holder to his father's room.
He had just entered the room and opened the door when he was met with a thick cloud of smoke, obscuring the figure of Si Lei lying on the bed. Si Lei was hiding on the bed, smoking and exhaling smoke.
Although it wasn't some kind of magic pill or longevity cake, continuing it long-term was like drug addiction. The steward sighed deeply. He opened the window to let in some fresh air for his father, and noticed the smoke smelled strange and cool.
He couldn't help but frown, recognizing the scent. It was tobacco wrapped with menthol. How could his father have become addicted to such a thing?
Si Tang placed the cigarette case on the table, and Si Lei said to him, "I was just thinking of getting a new one, you can open it."
"Father, I hope you can recover soon." The chief minister couldn't bear to tell his father that perhaps his second brother wasn't dead. But the fact that his second brother was alive was not something to be happy about.
It will only be more disappointing.
The master of ceremonies opened the tobacco box; inside the yellow silk lay a large and a small tobacco mouthpiece. He hesitated for a moment. After thinking for a moment, he chose the smaller one for his father.
Si Lei saw that he had fallen into his picky habit again. He said, "Send the smaller one to your mother. Keep the larger one with me."
"Mother, does Mother also smoke a pipe?" The official's eyes widened instantly. Mother was a well-educated and virtuous lady from a prominent family; she would never have picked up such a habit.
However, Si Lei did not notice anything amiss, assuming that his wife, like him, was unable to bear the pain of losing her son and was trying to escape reality by using external things.
"Go and visit your mother more often."
Suppressing his shock, Si Tang handed the large pipe holder to Si Lei. Si Lei put on his pipe and waved him out.
The steward delivered the remaining small cigarette holder to his mother's courtyard, where he smelled the same menthol smoke in his room. Unlike his father's, it wasn't as murky. On the contrary, it was somewhat invigorating.
"Mother."
The people inside the tent ignored him. The steward said nothing, put down his cigarette holder, and left.
Afterwards, rumors spread from Weidu about internal strife within the Twin Islands. It was said that a dispute arose between the people of Big Brother Island and the people of Wulin Island, and the Black Gold Manager on the other side directly wiped out Wulin Island.
The pirates also sent men to salvage the wrecked ship, only to find that the boxes on board were filled with stones. Only the top layer was gold.
Meanwhile, Big Brother Island also dispatched two ships to pursue the fleeing vessel.
Aba received a letter from Sixitong a few days earlier in the delta, requesting that he seize any ships he discovered while guarding the delta.
Aba was still thinking about the current situation, wondering who would dare to come to his delta.
Unexpectedly, that night, their men actually spotted a boat with an oil lamp hanging on it, sailing towards them. The Huns ordered the boat to stop, but the boat circled around and then turned back.
Although they failed to stop the boat and nothing particularly noteworthy happened, Aba still reported this minor incident to Xin Tianjing.
Upon receiving the intelligence, Zhang Changle immediately reported it.
Now everyone is certain that Anshan of Twin Islands is playing a diversionary tactic.
Si Xitong said, "That's excellent. It eliminates the possibility that the girl is in Weidu."
"So now only one person matches the characteristics."
Zhang Changle stared intently at him; “Master, they’re still playing the trick of having multiple burrows.”
However, the enemy underestimated the intelligence among their masters. Although the masters initially didn't know who the next Stand would be, they now have a pretty good idea.
There has been no news from Twin Islands yet.
A piece of information came from the strategy side regarding Marilyn's boyfriend, including his characteristics.
Zhang Changle looked at the intelligence report sent by Ce. He thought to himself, "The Marshal is really quick; he made contact with the Anluo people so easily."
The Ministry of Works was constantly improving firearms. Wei Zhao received drawings of the Twin Islands cannons from the Western Guard. He looked at them for a long time but was a little confused.
He asked Aza and Lu Qing to distinguish between them.
Lu Qing pointed to the blueprints and said, "Is this cannon really more powerful than ours? And with a longer range? How did they do that?"
It's already night, and everyone is continuing their research by the light of kerosene lamps. They've already stayed up for two nights in a row.
Looking at his teacher's wife's tired face, Aza said, "You should go back and rest. The young lady hasn't seen you for two days. The child is still so young and needs her mother."
Lu Qing felt that cannons weren't her forte, so she nodded. After tidying up her workstation, she returned to the palace.
At the Star-Picking Tower, Lu Qing returned to her room and lifted the mosquito net to check on her daughter. She immediately realized her daughter wasn't there. She assumed she had gone to pee.
Just as she was about to turn around, a dark figure covered Lu Qing's mouth and then knocked her unconscious with a chop to the ground.
The man in black, his face covered, quickly went to the cabinet and picked up Qianqian, who was also unconscious. He then turned and left the Star-Picking Tower.
At the same time, another man in black carried the unconscious Yelü Qiqi out, and the two groups split up and ran out of the palace.
On the towering palace rooftop, adorned with a golden rooster symbolizing good fortune, the brothers Zhang Changle and Zhang Ju were clearly waiting for the men in black along their usual route.
When Zhang Changle saw the man in black, he quickly drew his embroidered spring knife.
Zhang Ju then raised his bow and shot an arrow at the man in black's head.
Whoosh! The man in black narrowly dodged the arrow, which grazed the back of his neck. He immediately jumped off the roof. Unexpectedly, a huge net was suddenly cast down, and the ground beneath his feet collapsed, trapping his legs. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the floor of the courtyard had been ripped off and filled with a pile of fresh, still-wet cement.
The man in black immediately jumped out, holding the child tightly, and ran in a different direction. Every time he thought he had almost reached a deserted place, several more men would quickly emerge and chase after him.
The man in black was forced to jump around repeatedly until his legs became heavy. He looked down and saw that the water on his legs had dried. The weight of about half a pound almost pulled his trousers down.
Just then, the child in his arms stirred slightly. The man in black thought, "Oh no, if the child wakes up, it will be difficult to escape."
The man in black quickened his pace. The palace began to resemble a maze; no matter how many exits he saw, someone would immediately jump up and block his way. Finally, the man in black could no longer tolerate it and charged directly at one of the secret agents. He pretended to throw the child out. The agent quickly went to catch the child.
With a feint, he quickly shook off one of the spies. The man in black spotted the last high wall of the palace. Overjoyed, he leaped onto the wall. Bang! The sound of a firearm.
The man in black fell straight down from the height, landing right on a large net. His baby, Qianqian, rolled off his arms and was caught by Zhang Changle.
The man in black lay on the internet, using his last bit of strength to clench the poison in his teeth, and breathed his last.
Zhang Changle ignored the other person. He handed the child to Zhang Ju.
Zhang Ju took two steps back: "What are you doing to me?"
"Quickly send it to Lanzhang Palace." Zhang Changle squatted in front of the corpse, searching it as he spoke. "Take the child's mother to Lanzhang Palace as well."
Hearing the tone in which the man spoke as if he were instructing his subordinates, Zhang Ju hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to consider the bigger picture.
Lu Qing and her daughter were thus sent to the secondary palace of Lanzhang Palace.
Another man in black, hearing the gunshot, guessed his accomplice was dead. Carrying Yelü Qiqi on his back, he decided to break through the Xie clan's garrison. The Xie clan's defenses of the outer palace were the laxest among the guards.
This is his only chance.
Just as the man in black approached the south gate, he quickly hid in the shadows at the corner of the city wall, before he could even hold his breath. A reflected light suddenly shone on him.
The secret agents hidden in the shadows deliberately took out a peephole and used the light from a kerosene lamp to reflect it.
A large man was now standing on the city wall, being held hostage by a group of Xie soldiers with spears.
Using the light reflected from the spy, the big man immediately jumped off the city wall.
The Xie Bing figures on the wall exclaimed in alarm, "Hey, don't do anything rash!"
"We didn't hurt you."
"General."
"What general? It's Xie Guang!"
Xie Guang used the wall to land in front of the man in black. With a swift movement of his spear, he lifted Yelü Qiqi off the man's back and threw him to the ground. The man in black reacted quickly, kicking Xie Guang in the chest first.